Multiple database, user-choice-compiled program and event guide

ABSTRACT

An electronic programming guide generator utilizes filters to select only programming filtered to display in an electronic programming guide display.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/411,208 filed Mar. 25, 2009, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/967,672 filed Oct. 15, 2004, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/060,343 filed Apr.14, 1998, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/043,248, filed Apr. 16, 1997, the complete disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference.

The present invention generally relates to television scheduleinformation, and more particularly to a system and method for providingpreviews of scheduled programming to assist a viewer in makingscheduling decisions.

As the number of television stations in a metropolitan area or on acable network has increased, the number of programs of potentialinterest that are presented to a viewer has risen dramatically. With theuse of dish antennas capable of receiving direct satellite signals, themultitude of programs available to the viewer has further increased.

Additionally, television faces a digital future that will see the mergerof television and PC technology. The television set of the future willinclude a micro-computer, a modem of interconnectivity with othercomputers over networks, intranets, and the internet, and be connectableto computer peripherals such as printers. Such capabilities as near“video on demand” (NVOD), “video on demand,” “access to the world wideweb,” “audio on demand,” etc., will present the viewer with a plethoraof information and bandwidth.

As has become increasingly evident, information overload can actuallyreduce the usefulness of the information delivered. Accordingly, a greatchallenge exists to provide an interface that manages and provides anintelligent, user-friendly interface to the information available.

Consequently, television schedule systems that are provided directly onthe viewer's television screen have been developed to assist the viewerin sorting through these various programs and determining which programsto watch or record. One such television schedule system is disclosed incommonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,121 (Young et al.), the completedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. In oneembodiment of Young, the television schedule includes a series of menuscreens having an array of cells corresponding to different televisionprograms. The viewer may scroll through the cells to view whichtelevision programs are being presented on various channels at varioustimes. In addition, the viewer may select certain cells to obtain moreinformation on the associated program or to pull up other submenus withadditional options.

The recent development of television schedule systems, such as the abovedescribed patent to Young, have created many new challenges. Today'sguides have only a single source listing, with all available programmingpresented in a time-based schedule grid. There is also no currentability to allow third parties with different finding/filtering criteriato create useful listings and/or access for viewers.

Also, there is an increasingly important dual need among users to bothscreen out unwanted programming and find desired programming. As thenumber of programs/events accessible increases, these issues will becomeeven more important and current strategies such as simple programratings will not be effective or efficient enough to handle theseinterrelated user needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to the complementary aspects of FindingProgramming and Blocking Programming. The model assumes that certainchannels are available to a viewer and other channels are accessible.

According to one aspect of the invention, Editable Filters (EFs) arecreated based on a standardized program database. These EFs include abasic menu supplied upon startup and optional menus which could beincluded in the SS database or be downloadable from the WWW. Third partyeditors will be able to build an EF by utilizing entries which are usedto interact with the DB.

According to another concept of the invention, the editable filters areordered in a hierarchy. Channel select and parental control filters willsupersede all other filters. Thus, even if a selected EF allows aprogram, parental control will override the selection.

According to another aspect of the invention, the viewer will registerto use a list.

Other features and advantages will be apparent in view of the detaileddescription filed herewith and the following claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a schematic drawing of a television system;

FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram depicting an implementation of a filter;

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram depicting source provider guide listingsand third-party edited listings;

FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram depicting alternative formats of an EPGdisplay;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a system of selecting filters; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram depicting program/event sources for a PCTVutilizing a filter system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Electronic programming guides (EPGs) are well-known in the art. One typeof programming guide is provided by the assignee of the presentinvention, StarSight and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,274, and isdisplayed as a grid of program entries with the vertical axis of thegrid being the channels or program sources of program entries and thehorizontal axis being starting times of programming entries. Other EPGsare provided by satellite services.

An EPG is generated from a data base based on programming provided by alocal service provider. Existing EPG services include some programblocking features and also provide for selecting favorite channels andordering the channels in a preferred manner.

In a preferred embodiment, the electronic program guide of the inventionmay be implemented either on a personal computer, a PCTV, a televisionconnected to a set-top box, or a television including a custom board.However, the invention is not limited to any particular hardwareconfiguration and will have increased utility as new combinations ofcomputers and television systems are developed. In the following, any ofthe above will sometimes be referred to as a “TV system.” Block diagramsof representative TV systems are depicted in FIG. 1A. Details ofimplementation are not depicted because the invention is not limited toany particular TV system.

As is well-known, the picture to be displayed may be transmitted as ananalog signal, for example according to the NTSC standard utilized inthe United States, or as a digital signal modulated onto an analogcarrier. The signals may be received over a cable or via an antenna orsatellite dish. Typically, television sets are designed to receiveanalog signals and computer display devices are designed to displaypictures encoded in a digital format. However, the decoder systemconverts the digital data to an analog signal for display on atelevision set and TV modems can format analog TV signals for display ona monitor.

In FIG. 1A, analog or digital TV signals, received via cable 30, antenna32, or satellite dish 34, are provided to a television system. If thesignal is from a digital broadcast service, then a decoder 36 convertsthe signal to baseband video and audio or channel 3/4 RF. If the signalis an analog signal it is passed through as a live video output. Thetelevision system 38, depending on its configuration, receives selectedones of the outputs and displays the received program.

A PCTV includes a TV card 42, connected to either live video, basebandvideo, or channel 3/4 output, digitizes the video image and displays thevideo image in a resizable window on the computer monitor. The PCTV isalso coupled to land telephone lines by a modem 44.

If the received signal is an analog TV signal, the TV card of the PCTVdigitizes the analog signal and extracts included information from thevertical blanking intervals. On the other hand, if the signal is adigital signal, separate audio, video, VBI (vertical blankinginformation such as closed caption, teletext, and program relatedinformation), program guide, and conditional access information areprovided as separate bitstreams. The video and audio bitstreams forprograms are converted to a format for display and the program guideinformation is processed to form a program guide database. Theprocessor, executing software stored in memory, generates interactiveelectronic program guide images and images of received programs. Theguide can be used to interact with and control programs displayed in thewindow.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, filters are utilized toselect and screen programming displayed by an EPG. In this context afilter is a mechanism for selecting programs based on a selectedcriterion or criteria.

However, for a filter to be useful in the present context, it is in theform of a list of programs or event entries where the entries must be ina format usable by the EPG generating system.

An example of a useable format for filters is depicted in FIG. 1B. InFIG. 1B, a filter 100 is a list of a program or event entries 102. Thefilter entitled “The Sci-Fi Fan's Guide” is a list of programs selectedaccording to a criterion or criteria that selects programs of interestto sci-fi fans.

The format for a program or event entry is depicted in the table 104.The information in the table is used by the EPG generating system togenerate an EPG display as described below. The table could be formattedin HTML so that the filter entries 102 could be displayed in a userfriendly format 106.

In a preferred embodiment both service provider guide listings andthird-party edited guide listings are utilized to select programmingdisplayed in the EPG.

Examples of Subscription-based, Filtering Program/Event Services; Liveor Archived

e.g.: The Family-Friendly Subscription Service

(delivering a described/understood mix of general audienceprograms/events, some of which may be custom-selected according to asubscriber's viewing history/preferences.)

e.g.: The Science Source Subscription Service

(delivering a described/understood mix of science-relatedprograms/events, some of which may be custom-selected according to asubscriber's viewing history/preferences.)

e.g.: Bob Smith's Cult Film Access Listing (allowing a Starsight user toincorporate a third party's list into the Guide) (providing access linksto a described/understood mix of cult film-related programs/events.)

FIG. 2A illustrates the use of third-party edited guide listings. Theentire universe of available programming is indicated by the list of allprograms/events provided by the local service provider 200.

As depicted in FIG. 2A, some of the programs listed in the Sci-Fi Fan'sGuide are either not available (light gray bar) or available/notaccessible (dark gray bar). A program available but not accessible is apremium program not subscribed to by the user.

The EPG generator utilizes the filter to display those programsavailable/accessible in the EPG. Alternatively, programs available/notaccessible might also be displayed as an incentive to the viewer tosubscribe to the premium program which meets a selected filter'scriterion or criteria. This could be a powerful revenue generator forthe service provider.

FIG. 2B depicts alternate ways of formatting an EPG. For programs eventswhich are available only at prescribed times the show listings aredisplayed in a grid 250. Those programs/events which are randomlyaccessible, e.g., archives, libraries, file libraries, etc., appear in alist section of the EPG.

In a preferred embodiment, the actual filtering of the programs to bedisplayed in an EPG is performed utilizing the Program/Event ID in theentry table 104 (FIG. 1B).

In the present embodiment, the EPG generator provides an interactivefilter selective mechanism. In FIG. 3, a user configuration screen 300lists both service provider filters 302 and third-party filters 304.Each time a new filter is added it is registered with the EPG generatorand added to the list in the user configuration screen 300. Only thoseprograms filtered by the selected filters will be displayed on the EPGscreen 306.

In a preferred embodiment, the filters may be prioritized. For example,in a family with small children the most important criteria might bethat a program be included in the Family Friendly Viewing filter. Thisfilter is assigned the highest priority. Then, for example, a programincluded in the Sci-Fi Fan's filter but not included in the FamilyFriendly Viewing filter would not be displayed in the guide. Further,the filters could be prioritized by time. Family Friendly Viewing wouldhave the highest priority during the hours when children are viewing andthen automatically drop to a later priority during late hours.

In the example described above with reference to FIG. 2A, the filterswere applied to programming provided by the local service provider overa cable. However, as depicted in FIG. 4, the filters may also be appliedto programs and events delivered by non-cable sources such as wireless,Internet, and satellite. These non-cable sources 400 supply programguide data to the EPG generator 402 which is stored in a data base. Thefilters can then be applied to program data stored in the data base togenerate a filtered EPG for cable and non-cable programming.

Another use of non-cable supplied information is to use the internet toprovide offers for premium cable-supplied subscription services. Thesubscription is initiated through the internet and premium subscriptionservice is made available to the user.

1-4. (canceled)
 5. A method for providing Internet-delivered programs orevents to a user of an interactive program guide, the method comprising:providing a list of filters, on a display by an interactive programguide, to a user of the interactive program guide, each filtercorresponding to a list of Internet-delivered programs or event;receiving a user selection of at least one filter in the list offilters; providing the list of Internet-delivered programs or events, onthe display, corresponding to the selected filter.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein providing the list of Internet-delivered programs orevents corresponding to the selected filter comprises providing at leastone HTML formatted table.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein at least oneof the filters is created by a party that is not the filter provider orthe user.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the filtersis created by the filter provider.
 9. The method of claim 5, wherein atleast one of the Internet-delivered programs or events is randomlyaccessible by the user.
 10. The method of claim 5, further comprisingreceiving a new filter and including the new filter in the list offilters.
 11. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving a userselection of at least one of the Internet-delivered programs or eventsin the list, and providing the selected at least one Internet-deliveredprogram or event.
 12. A system for providing Internet-delivered programsor events to a user of an interactive program guide, the systemcomprising: a receiver device configured to receive user selectionsignals; a control unit responsive to the received user selectionsignals and configured to: cause the display of a list of filters on adisplay by an interactive program guide, to a user of the interactiveprogram guide, each filter corresponding to a list of Internet-deliveredprograms or event; respond to a received user selection signalindicative of at least one filter in the list of filters by providingthe list of Internet-delivered programs or events, on the display,corresponding to the selected filter.
 13. The system of claim 12,wherein causing the display of the list of Internet-delivered programsor events corresponding to the selected filter comprises causing thedisplay of at least one HTML formatted table.
 14. The system of claim12, wherein at least one of the filters is created by a party that isnot the filter provider or the user.
 15. The system of claim 14, whereinat least one of the filters is created by the filter provider.
 16. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein at least one of the Internet-deliveredprograms or events is randomly accessible by the user.
 17. The system ofclaim 12, the control unit further configured to receive a new filterand cause the new filter to be included in the list of filters.
 18. Thesystem of claim 12, the control unit further configured to respond to auser selection signal indicative of at least one of theInternet-delivered programs or events in the list by causing the displayof the selected at least one Internet-delivered program or event.